Savannah

Almost Cafe Du Monde & How to Navigate the French Quarter

August 31, 2017

What would you do for a beignet? We learned quickly that if you’re going to the French Quarter at all bringing your own car is a bad idea. You will not get very far in a car and parking can cost you up to $20/hour. If you’re going on a weekend or any day of the week after 3:00 pm, take an uber and allow an extra 20 minutes to reach your destination. However, if you’re a little daring the fastest way to get anywhere in the French Quarter is on a bicycle.

Traffic will be backed up for 10 minutes while drunk tourists flood the crosswalk making it impossible for a car to proceed. But on a bicycle, you can squeeze past all those cars (watch out for the cabs, they don’t stop!) and weave in and out of the tourists, although they really don’t stop either. And whatever you do be sure you’re watching the traffic and the road simultaneously so you don’t get run over or catch your tire on a chunk of broken street or the world’s largest pothole, which miraculously, New Orleans seems to have about 1,000 of.

Tony and I had a plan to bike to Cafe Du Monde before the crowd hit early on a Saturday morning. The plan was to get to the cafe around 7 am but we actually didn’t get out of bed till 8 am, making that plan a bit difficult to execute. The heat was already climbing towards the 90’s and we foolishly skipped coffee in an effort to get out the door.The sun rose and the humidity swelled as we biked the four miles. At one point we had to stop because my back wheel had picked up a nasty, paper towel off the side of the road that had wedged itself into the sprocket. We picked it out in shreds, wiping the sweat out of our eyes (not with the nasty paper towel mind you) and kept on. By the time we arrived, the cafe was packed, primarily with families and their sticky children. We were both grumpy, hot, and regretting the decision to skip coffee.

The thought of navigating the crowds of squealing adolescents all for something deep fried and dipped in sugar sounded less than appealing. We turned tail and went home where we showered and made a very large pot of coffee. Our attitudes immediately improved and we had a lovely, rest of the weekend. Cafe Du Monde, however, is still on the list. I’ll keep you posted on when we actually make it over.

August 31, 2017

What would you do for a beignet? We learned quickly that if you’re going to the French Quarter at all bringing your own car is a bad idea. You will not get very far in a car and parking can cost you up to $20/hour. If you’re going on a weekend or any day of the week after 3:00 pm, take an uber and allow an extra 20 minutes to reach your destination. However, if you’re a little daring the fastest way to get anywhere in the French Quarter is on a bicycle.

Traffic will be backed up for 10 minutes while drunk tourists flood the crosswalk making it impossible for a car to proceed. But on a bicycle, you can squeeze past all those cars (watch out for the cabs, they don’t stop!) and weave in and out of the tourists, although they really don’t stop either. And whatever you do be sure you’re watching the traffic and the road simultaneously so you don’t get run over or catch your tire on a chunk of broken street or the world’s largest pothole, which miraculously, New Orleans seems to have about 1,000 of.

Tony and I had a plan to bike to Cafe Du Monde before the crowd hit early on a Saturday morning. The plan was to get to the cafe around 7 am but we actually didn’t get out of bed till 8 am, making that plan a bit difficult to execute. The heat was already climbing towards the 90’s and we foolishly skipped coffee in an effort to get out the door.

The sun rose and the humidity swelled as we biked the four miles. At one point we had to stop because my back wheel had picked up a nasty, paper towel off the side of the road that had wedged itself into the sprocket. We picked it out in shreds, wiping the sweat out of our eyes (not with the nasty paper towel mind you) and kept on. By the time we arrived, the cafe was packed, primarily with families and their sticky children. We were both grumpy, hot, and regretting the decision to skip coffee.

The thought of navigating the crowds of squealing adolescents all for something deep fried and dipped in sugar sounded less than appealing. We turned tail and went home where we showered and made a very large pot of coffee. Our attitudes immediately improved and we had a lovely, rest of the weekend. Cafe Du Monde, however, is still on the list. I’ll keep you posted on when we actually make it over.